Half A Hero
by KillCipher
Summary: Danny Fenton. Danny Phantom. They hate him. They love him. Nobody cares. Everybody cares. But nobody notices that there is only one Danny in Amity Park. And he is falling apart. Tired of being half a hero.
1. Love and Hate

"Care to explain why you are late this time, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny Fenton sighed, letting go of the doorknob.

"No, sir." He muttered. Mr. Lancer glared at him.

"Well then..." the English teacher mused. "Detention it is. Again, Mr. Fenton." he snapped.

"Yes, sir." Danny said quietly, and retreated to his seat at the back of the class.

The students jeered at him as he passed, throwing paper balls and sticking him with their pencils. Somebody stuck out their foot and Danny tripped, dropping his backpack and cracking his head on a desk.

Danny barely winced.

"Sorry." he muttered. The class laughed.

"Nice job, Fento-Freak!" a blonde jock yelled from across the room. The class laughed louder.

Danny picked up his backpack and hurried to his seat, dropping quickly into the wooden desk.

An African American boy who wore large glasses sat on his left, while a dark haired girl with dark purple eyes sat on his right.

They both looked at Danny concerned, because he was their best friend and he hadn't told them what was wrong. Why was he late this time? Was it an attack? Why didn't he call them? The boy with the glasses tried to get Danny's attention, but he stared blankly ahead. The girl glanced at him worried, but returned her attention to the front of the class.

"Well class," Mr. Lancer spoke up. "Since I have no lesson planned for today, we will simply watch some news clips and discuss what we think about the topic at hand."

The class groaned and got ready to sneak out their phones.

"Now wait just a second. I think the topic would be more than to your taste this time, class."

He turned to the TV, remote in hand. Tucker Foley took that moment to try and get Danny's attention once more.

"Danny! Hey man, what's the problem? Are you okay? Danny! Was it a-" he was interrupted.

"Class! Pay attention."

Tucker reluctantly turned around, sending a piteous look at Sam Manson, who was hoping her friend was alright.

The TV had flickered to life, showing the news channel. The weather was just going off.

 _"Hey, This is Lance Thunder here! I'm here on the latest update on our town hero, Danny Phantom, who is fighting a ghost right here, right now."_

Danny's eyes focused on the screen, as if in a trance. The class cheered. This newscast was about Phantom!

The screen showed a green, black, and red blur, before the camera focused, showing Danny Phantom facing none other than Vlad Plasmius at the park.

On the screen, Phantom charged up an ectoblast in his hand, glaring hard at Plasmius, who just smiled.

 _"Oh Daniel. How many times have I told you? Your attempts at squashing my interest in our kind is pointless. Join me, and I will teach you all you need to know. Don't let your obsession get the best of you." Plasmius smirked. Phantom's eyes glowed a brighter green._

 _"Holy cow, he's pissed!" Lance's voice could be heard._

 _"MY OBSESSION?! You don't even know what my obsession is, you creepy bastard! And you should talk, letting your obsession for YOURSELF to get way out of hand! WAKE UP VLAD, YOU CAN"T. HAVE. EVERYTHING!" Phantom's spectral voice echoed loudly as he shot three huge ectoblasts at Vlad._

 _Plasmius brought up a pink ghost shield, then shot back four pink ectoblasts._

 _"YES I CAN! And I will have you as my apprentice, whether you come willingly or not!"_

 _He then pulled out a strange looking gun and it glowed red. The gun let out a high whine as it charged up._

 _"Danny! No!" a voice yelled off screen. Plasmius fired the gun right at Phantom's chest. There was a bright green blur and suddenly Phantom was pinned to the ground._

 _Phantom untangled himself from the pile of black and white. "Danielle! No!" Phantom yelled._

 _In his arms lay a young female ghost whose long white hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She had gotten hit by the red beam of light, and now thre was a gaping, bubbling hole in her chest. "Danielle!" Phantom cried. "Danny..." the ghost smiled. Then she melted into a pile of glowing red gloop. Phantom sat stunned in the puddle of goo._

 _"Hmm. It should not have had that effect..." Plasmius muttered, not even caring that he had melted Danielle Phantom._

"What did he just do?" the blonde jock asked stupidly. Dannys eyes were still glued to the screen.

 _On the screen, Phantom still sat in the puddle of goop as Vlad Plasmius examined his gun._

 _Plasmius muttered to himself about the blueprints for the weapon getting tampered with, but Phantom sat in the red, bubbling remains of his clone, his daughter, and he lost it._

 _Phantom's gloved hands clenched into fists in the liquid goop, his green aura glowing brighter and brighter._

 _"What the hell?!" the camera man said._

 _Danny Phantom stood slowly, his white bangs covering his face. His aura seemed to be flickering, like it was a live flame._

 _Black frost crept up his long, white boots and his gloves. His famous white 'DP' insignia on the front of his black jumpsuit glowed a bright, ghostly green._

 _His white hair swayed in the breeze, revealing one bright, scary,_ red _eye ._

 _Phantom raised his left hand and charged up a red ectoblast. Plasmius looked up at the sound._

 _Phantom chuckled darkly. "Congratulations, Vlad."_

 _Plasmius dropped the gun at the sound of his voice._

 _Phantom looked up, showing one ghostly green eye and one bright red one. Black frost patterns curled around the left side of his face._

"What's wrong with him?!" Paulina Sanchez screeched.

 _The black frost creeped into his left eye, giving the green orb a shattered glass look. Phantom grinned, flashing a sharp set of pearly white fangs._

 _"You've finally pissed me off."_

 _He raised both arms and fired two beams of light, on red one green. Plasmius' eyes widened as both blasts knocked him backward into a tree, which cracked and shattered under the force._

 _"Oh my God.." Lance said._

 _Phantom flew forward, forming a long scythe from what looked to be green ice._

 _Plasmius groaned and sat up from the wreckage, only to have a sharp black blade at his neck._

 _"I've finally shattered, Vlad." Phantom chuckled. "And I really want to kill you."_

 _Plasmius tried to back away from the blade, but found he could move no further. Ice had covered the lower half of his body._

 _"You know Vlad, you really should have killed me when you had the chance. But now there's a new Dan Phantom, and he's come to play." Phantom snickered._

 _"Dan Phantom?" the camera man mused._

 _Phantom's scythe glowed white and Plasmius raised a feeble shield._

 _Suddenly Phantom stopped powering his scythe. The smirk dropped from his face._

"What happened? Why'd he stop?"

 _"Oh no...is that me?" he asked quietly. Vlad Plasmius glanced at his circular shield, which was reflecting Danny's face. Phantom lowered his scythe, which evaporated into black steam._

 _Phantom raised his hand to his frost covered face. He rested his gloved hand against the dome, staring into his two different color eyes._

 _"Danielle, What have I done?" he said sadly._

 _His eyes refocused on Plasmius, who sat under the pink dome, eyes wide and scared. His legs and lower waist were encased in a thick layer of ice. Small cuts were leaking ectoplasm all over his body._

 _Phantom backed away quickly._

 _"Oh no. No, no, no, NO!" Phantom dropped to his knees clutching His head._

 _"I promised her...I PROMISED..." he screamed. He was full on crying by now._

 _Phantom's aura dimmed greatly. The black frost melted off his hands and feet. Plasmius turned into a oddly coloured cloud and disappeared._

 _"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Phantom sobbed._

 _"Poor guy..." Lance commented._

 _Phantom began emitting mist to surround him. As if called, a form appeared beside him._

 _"Get up Danny! We're better than this!" it said, shaking his shoulders with white gloved hands._

 _"We promised, Phantom...I let her down. I let her die..." Phantom cried._

 _"Keep it together, Danny! We can't just fall apart! Danielle wouldn't want us to do that!" the smoky Phantom said._

 _Phantom wiped his eyes and nodded._

 _"You're right. Sorry. Thanks Phantom." Phantom said._

 _The smoky ghost laughed._

 _"Really Danny, When am I not?" The smoky Phantom laughed and disappeared along with the mist._

 _"Bye, Phantom." Danny Phantom muttered._

"Whoa! There was two of him!" a blonde girl said. "Wait... who's that?"

 _"Well look at what we have here."_

 _Phantom groaned and stood up. He got into a tired fighting position._

 _"Woah! Two ghosts in one hour!" Lance could be heard saying._

 _"What do you want, Walker?" Phantom sighed._

 _"Well, boy. I happened to be checking the status list for wanted criminals, and guess who's name was at the top." the uniformed ghost sneered._

 _Phantom growled and both his hands glowed green._

 _"It seems that you have broken quite a few rules, boy. I have a prison cell with your name on it. And you can spend the next 270,500,243 years getting used to it."_

 _Walker pulled out a large silver pistol and shot at Phantom's head. Phantom dodged as he took to the sky, fireing many (thankfully, green) ectoblasts at the opposing ghost._

 _Phantom smiled. "Well if you haven't noticed by now, I don't play by the rules!"_

The class cheered. "Yeah! Phantom's back, baby!" Dash Baxter yelled.

The TV winked off, and the whole class groaned and whined. Mr. Lancer had unplugged it with his foot, walking forward.

"Hey, turn it back on!"

"No! We wanted to see that Walker dude get beat down!"

Mr. Lancer simply ignored them and continued walking down the aisle with a worried look on his face.

"Mr. Fenton?" The class quieted as they saw his condition.

Danny was still staring at the blackened screen, his eyes wide and unseeing. His black hair was unkempt and pointed in every direction.

Lancer's eyes grew wide as he grew right side of his face was covered in blood shades of deep crimson. The child's eyes were a dull grey, different from the usual icy blue.

"Mr. Fenton?!" he remained unresponsive.

"Danny?!" Sam asked, touching his arm.

"Hey man, snap out of it!" Tucker shouted, banging on Danny's desk.

"Mr. Fenton?!" Lancer said again.

"Huh?" Danny said, not paying attention.

"Danny!"

"Yeah? Huh, what?!" he snapped to attention. He quickly scanned the room, but then took in the worried faces and blank TV screen.

"I'm sorry Mr. Lancer. I'll try not to fall asleep in class anymore." Danny said quietly.

Mr. Lancer looked astonished. "Why is there blood on your face?"

Sam's eyes widened. The desk, she mouthed to Tucker.

Danny raised a hand to his face, much like in the video. When he brought it away, his fingers were smeared with red. His expression remained blank as he clenched his hand into a fist.

"Its paint." he lied blandly.

Mr. Lancer's worried face quickly morphed into one of irritation. "Two days detention, Mr. Fenton." He snapped loudly.

"Well great, Fentonio. Now we've missed the rest of the show about Phantom! Stop trying to get attention, acting like you're hurt or something!"

"Yeah, loser boy. Nobody cares about you." Paulina sneered.

Danny chuckled quietly to himself, still ignoring his friends as class continued.

Nobody cares about _you_ , Fenton. Stop trying to get all th attention! We wanted to watch _Phantom_ , not you NERD.

Unbelievable.


	2. News Crews and New News

"Danny?! Danny!" Sam called. Tucker checked his PDA for any traces of Danny's phone. The speeding crowd of teenagers finally dispersed, not even seconds after the bell rang.

"Where is he?" Tucker muttered. "I can't believe he ditched us as soon as school was out!" Sam huffed.

"Do you think he's okay?" Sam asked mellowly. Tucker nodded and pushed up his glasses. "He's totally fine. He's Danny Fenton."

Sam sighed and stopped at the bottom of the school stairs. "I guess I'll see you later then Tuck." she sighed, then took off in the direction of her house.

Tucker sighed. His friends were so complicated. He put his PDA safely into his pocket and started his walk to Fentonworks.

He was used to the random things friends got themselves into.

He rounded the corner, the giant "FentonWorks" sign illuminated the end of the block.

_DP_

Tucker opened the door to Danny's room.

Danny dropped a few feet from his floating position. Many objects which had been levitating also clattered to the floor.

Danny sighed. "I thought you were my mom."

He continued to float, levitating many objects around the room.

Tucker whistled. "When you said studying, I didn't think you meant while training."

Danny held a textbook in his lap as his stuff flied all around him. Tucker went to throw down his backpack, but it floated up to join the rest of Danny's room.

"What happened earlier?" Tucker asked him. What they had watched, it was terrible. Danny sighed and put everything down, dropping unceremoniously onto his bed.

"I feel...like I just snapped... And I realized that..."he trailed off.

"Like no matter what, He's still there..." Tucker finished. Danny nodded.

"And the worst part... She's dead, and I can't even cry... All I feel is anger... and I'm so frustrated..."

"You sound like Captain America..." Tucker commented.

Danny shot him a withering look.

"Hey, I can't kill the mood if it's already dead!" Tucker chuckled nervously.

Danny cracked a smile and shook his head.

"You know what. Tuck, let's go to your house and play video games. Maybe I'll even feel better by next week. You're right, it's over, and that's it."

Tucker beamed and stood up. "I'm all for it!"

Danny smirked. "We're flying." Tucker sat down.

"I'm good, nevermind..."

Danny grabbed his arm and floated him through the ceiling.

_DP_

Danny was back at the park.

As he floated above the trees with his arms resting behind his head, he noticed how someone had cleaned up all the wreckage from earlier.

He felt really guilty for always destroying things, and this morning he literally went insane for a total of 6 minutes.

Why do I have to make everything go wrong, Danny grimaced as he went and sat next to the newly obliterated tree stump.

Why does everything always get worse?

I've finally shattered... The creepy laugh bounced around his skull.

And I really want to kill you...

"Hey, Kid! You can't be out here; area's closed off, we're waiting for..."

Danny looked up.

"Phantom." Lance Thunder breathed.

Danny backed up, but his back met the remains of the splintered tree. Danny considered flying away. He could see the camera crew already in front of him, and they all had uncertain looks on their faces.

There's a new Dan Phantom. And he's come to play...

That is what made up his mind.

"Uh...um... Hi, Mr. Thunder." Lance looked taken aback.

"You know me?"

Danny's initial surprise wore off as he smirked. "Well, yeah. You are the best reporter in Amity."

Lance blushed, but composed himself. "Are you okay, Phantom?" he asked sincerely.

Danny's smile melted off his face. "Yeah, Lance. I'm fine, thanks."

And he's come to play...

Lance glanced back to his crew, who urged him to continue.

"W-Well, Mr. Phantom-"

"You can call me Danny."

"Um, Danny, since what happened earlier, everyone really wants to know if your ok..." Lance cleared his throat nervously.

Danny tilted his head to the side, intrigued. Lance couldn't help but notice how childish and kid-like he was.

"H-How about an interview?"

Danny's eyebrows rose. Then he got an idea.

Danny smiled innocently. "No, Lance. How about a game?"

_DP_

"Hi, I'm Danny Phantom. I'm here to share a few secrets."

"But Danny, I though you said this was a game?" Lance asked.

Danny shrugged. "Hold your lightning there, Thunder! I'm getting there, I'm getting there." Danny snickered.

The camera filmed Lance smirk and shake his head at the laughing, glowing, floating teenager.

"You seem to act so normal for a teenage ghost, almost as if you're alive!" Lance commented.

Danny froze in his current floating position, which happened to be three inches above Lance's head, upside down.

Danny smirked. "Looks like were starting with the big secrets first then!" he cackled and floated himself upright.

Lance frowned as Danny did a loop over his head. "Danny!" he scolded.

Danny froze once more, pouting. "Ah, fine. Jeez..." he grumbled, and flew to his seat and sat down, tipping it backwards, grinning.

"Sorry, I'm not really sorry, Oh man, Lance! I should have told you how sugar and caffeine affect me, but you should know not to give a teen two coffees! What was that, cappuccino? Machiato? Or was it just straight up old people coffee, because if it is I'm seriously gonna throw up right now! Hey, does anyone have any Skittles for meeeeee?!"

"Danny? Danny!"

Danny sat back down his seat with a crash, which he had started levitating.

"Oh. Sorry, Lance." he smiled sheepishly.

"What did you mean by biggest secrets?"

Danny grinned. "Okay, I'll start with the first one. You know how I act like a real teen instead of all like, emotionless and hateful like other ghosts?"

Lance nodded.

Danny shot up and slapped lance upside the head. "Well, ghosts are not emotionless and hateful! We have feelings too ya know, or should I say DONT KNOW!" Danny sneered, his eyes glowing a luminescent green.

But then he leaned back and said, "I mean, wouldn't it hurt you if everyone who sees you is telling you your a monster who has no feelings and doesn't deserve to live..." he grumbled.

Lance winced. "So ghosts have feelings? Like all emotions-"

"Well, YEAH! We can feel pain, joy, love, hate, lust,-" the ghost child stopped as he blushed a bright green.

"So...yeah," he coughed. Lance smirked.

"Okay then...and about the other ghosts?"

Danny caught a stray firefly and smiled lazily at the camera. "Aw, well those are special cases."

Danny sat up as blue mist poured from his mouth.

He grinned and looked around. "Just in time."

"What was that?" Lance asked confused.

"BEWARE!"

Lances camera crew gave shouts of surprise, even Lance jumped a bit.

"BOXY!" Danny laughed so hard he collapsed in his seat.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST, YOU WILL FEAR ME AND MY CORRUGATED BOXES OF- hey, what's wrong with him?" Boxy lowered his arms.

Danny was hanging on to the arm of one of Lance's crew members, laughing hysterically. The crew member snickered also.

"Seeeeeeee, I told you he would come!" Danny teased. The man shook his head. "You were right, he is very predictable." he laughed.

"Hey!" Boxy said, offended.

Danny floated up to join him. "Hello Boxy!~You're my favourite!~" Danny snickered.

Box Ghost sighed and swatted Danny, who was trying to snatch his hat.

"Alright, who gave him coffee?"

Everyone pointed to Lance, who slapped his hand to his face.

"I didn't know!"

Boxy shook his head. "Well then it's a good thing you're getting this on camera. He does some pretty crazy stuff when he's...like this."

Danny cackled and merged his legs together, forming his spectral tail, then doing several loops around Boxy, nearly making a twister.

"Jeez... I'll come to kill you later, ok?" Boxy grumbled.

Danny skid to a stop, "Like you can!", then continued to speed in circles.

Boxy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. BEWARE!"

He then promptly disappeared.

Danny sped quickly back into his seat.

"O-ho-hoookaaaaay! What's next Thor?"

Lance snapped from his thoughts.

"Why do you seem so lively compared to the rest?"

Danny immediately seemed to sober up.

"Well, that's just the problem. I'm more alive than the rest of them..."

"You have stronger emotions than the rest, more self-control...Can You tell us why? Do you even know yourself?" Lance asked quietly.

"I'm more alive than the rest of them." Danny repeated solemnly.

"What? What does that-..."

Lance's expression darkened.

"Wait...are you saying you're..."

Danny sighed and nodded. "No, Lance. I'm not dead."


	3. How About A Game?

Lance sat frozen in shock. He was confused.

The ghost boy was not dead? Does that mean that they have been watching a regular human child get hurt every day? They have never done not one thing to help him, always getting in the way- if he broke down like what happened earlier...what was the emotional state of this poor child?

"You're...not dead?" Lance repeated dumbly.

Danny had sobered up the last few seconds. "Yep. Not dead. Doesn't necessarily mean I'm alive though."

But...

"Have you ever heard the term 'halfa' before?" Danny asked quickly.

"Halfa?" the cameraman mutters.

"That's what all the ghosts call you, when you're fighting right?" Lance asked.

Danny nodded. "Right. Do you know why though?"

The whole crew pondered this. It was a while before someone spoke.

"You're half ghost." the camera man realized.

Danny smirked. "Bingo! You know, I like you. We should hang out more."

Lance pondered this new information.

"But you're only _half_ ghost. What's the other?"

Danny shrugged. "I'm half ghost, I'm not entirely dead. And I'm not entirely alive, so the other half is-"

"Human."

"Right! Wow, Lance. I thought you'd go into shock by now. I think Peter has."

Peter the cameraman had indeed frozen. The child he had been filming for two years...he was alive and he was always fighting those ghosts, always getting hurt...and he had done nothing.

Not one thing.

Danny waved at Peter. "Its okay man. After every fight, when you play it back on TV, I notice all the things you guys do. Moving big pieces of rubble, letting me know when someone's about to try and capture me. You always try and help. Even if your just trying to get more viewers..." he snickered.

He then noticed the sullen looks on their faces.

"Oh hey! Its fine, I can handle myself! Tell you what, how about that game?"

Lance looked at him curiously.

"Okay."

Danny beamed. "So you guys know in all those comic books, like _Captain America_ , _Iron Man_ , _Spider Man_ and all that?"

They all nodded. "Well, I guess since I'm not dead I have a life too, know what mean?" he hinted.

...

"Oh my God, you have a secret identity!" Peter yelled in amazement,

The whole crew burst into murmurs, while Danny burst into laughter.

"Yeah. More like my ONLY identity. Well, until I got this one..." he gestured to himself.

Lance's mouth gaped like a fish. "Y-You mean-"

"Yep." Phantom nodded. "Classic hero's lab accident. After that, all I wanted to do was keep everyone safe."

The crew sat in awed silence, as Danny smiled wider.

"So about that game." the crew looked at him patiently.

Danny stood and floated in front of the camera.

"This game is called Find Phantom. A game were _you_ ," he gestured to the lens, "find _me_. I'm tired of the lies and the excuses and the pain... So...I guess it's just about time that I can be truthful. When I run away to save the world, I don't want to have to lie to get away. So yeah. You find me, you win the game. You win the game, my mental state becomes _somewhat_ healthy." he joked.

"You people see me every day, hugs and smiles, high-fives and friendly punches. I get shoved and kicked and cursed at, and I get robbed, cheated on, just CHEATED IN GENERAL." Danny sighed.

"But then its all worth it, because everyone's safe. Nobody hurt, enemies in the Ghost Zone, and I'm good."

Lance stared open-mouthed at Danny, who smiled at him then returned to the camera.

"This will be the like the world's most epic, most awesome, extremely hard game of Where's Waldo..." Danny chuckled. "So thankfully, I'm here to give a few tips! And rules!" he added quickly.

Danny turned back to Lance. "You might want to get a pen, Thunder."

"Alright! So rule number one, there will be absolutely _no_ trying to capture me. If someone captures me to figure it out, I _will_ call off the game. That's cheating, Mr. Fenton." he hinted.

Peter and the crew laughed. Danny couldn't wait hear the chocolatey curse.

"Two, when the game ends, there will be no experiments, no dissection, no termination, no execution...well you get the idea." Danny shook his head.

Lance snorted. "Next?"

"Three, if you approach me in my human form I'll still insist that I'm not me, unless you have proof! It'll make it more frustrating!" Danny said happily.

Lance rolled his eyes at the sporadic spirit. "Anything else to add, Danny?"

"Oh yeah. Every week I will give a hint, which will get everyone closer to who I am. But in the end, you guys won't even believe it..."

"So what's the hint for next week, since it's the weekend?" Lance questioned.

I guess the fun begins here, Danny thought sarcastically.

"Okay, the first hint. _Its the weekend and my teachers hate me, so what do they give me? An impossibly large pile of homework!_ First hint is **CASPER HIGH!** "

_DP_

"AGHGHHHHAAAAAHHH! FUDGE!"

Danny Fenton snapped his eyes open as Jack Fenton banged his large fists on the table. So much for having a nap in his cereal bowl, Danny yawned and smirked.

The Fentons reacted just as he had predicted.

Jack had gotten giddy that they had found a new species to study, but had gotten shot down by the young ghost on the screen saying, _"That's cheating, Mr. Fenton...No experiments, no dissection, no termination, no execution..."_ , resulting in the previously predicted chocolatey curse.

Maddie had gone to pacing, her brain working overdrive to figure this out. Half human? Impossible! Ghosts with emotions?! Unbelievable!

Danny watched them cautiously, eating his cereal until the recording stopped. Maddie had not once stopped her pacing, merely turning her head to the screen every time a new rule or piece of information was introduced. Jack was bending his fudge spoon and denting the table, grumbling unhappily because he cannot break the rules, or they may never find out who the ghost boy was.

A while after the newscast had stopped, Maddie abruptly halted in her pacing.

"Oh no. Jack, the ghost boy is half _human_...We've been hunting someone's child!" she said quietly.

Danny raised his eyebrows at that. Even if he was completely dead, he would still be someone's kid. He wasn't even surprised that these people could be so heartless to a child, albeit a dead one.

Jack's eyes widened. "Madds, his parents! They could be people we know, they will sue us for shooting at their kid!"

Maddie waved that off. "Forget about the parents, what about the child himself?! We most likely know him- what if he's been over our house, he could be anybody-! And he goes to Casper High, what if he's a friend of Danny's?!"

Danny's head shot up at his name. "What?"

Maddie turned to him. "Oh, honey... We're so sorry for hunting one of your friends!"

Danny blinked. "Um...apology accepted?" he said confused.

"HA! So you admit it?!" Jack yelled.

Danny shook his head. "Uh, no. I'm just as confused as you are right now..." he lied.

"Darn it..."Jack pouted.


	4. My Best Friend's Antics

Danny had suffered the long weekend of homework, fighting ghosts, Maddie's continuous ranting, dodging haywire ghost catching equipment, fighting ghosts, avoiding his friends questions, and oh yeah, fighting ghosts.

Those two days were very exhausting, but Danny had the whole five days of school to cheer him up. The weekend at the Fenton house was uneventful, seeing that the eldest Fentons had retreated into the basement to sulk about being completely wrong about absolutely everything. And Jazz had long since gone off to college in who knows what state, and he didn't have her to make fun of her pshyco-babble.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker had used the weekend to play online video games, and Sam had filled in the boys about who people thought could possibly be Phantom, while all while brutally beating them at all of the games.

Danny took extra care to be happy around his living family and friends, so as to not raise any suspicions. The death of Danielle had hit him hard, but he had no way to vent. Even though his friends had made sure not to mention her not even once, his parents threw her name around like it didn't even matter. The thing that hurt him the most was the fact that, simply put, he was entirely emotionless about everything that had happened.

The more that Danny wanted to remain in silence, the harder he had to act to keep suspicions away. Silence was what he wanted, but he couldn't do that. To go sit in a corner and bawl his eyes out, he wanted that too, but this action was literally, physically impossible for him, which made it that much worse.

Danny yawned as he sat down in his seat in Lancer's class.

"Who was it?" Tucker asked.

Danny sighed and slid his head onto the desk. "Just Skulker. What'd I miss?"

Sam lifted her head from a book, "Not much, Lancer just gave up trying to get the class to pay attention."

Danny glanced to the front of the room, and Lancer had indeed buried himself in a large book with a sour look on his face.

Danny yawned and shook his head as Tucker handed him a cup of coke, seemingly from nowhere.

Danny sipped his drink and awakened slowly because of the sugar.

Tucker snatched the cup back before Danny could down the entire thing.

"Hey!" Danny complained. Tucker turned returned the cup to his backpack, ignoring the whines from his friend.

"As much as I want to see you all hyper again Danny, we can't have you bouncing off the walls. Literally." he shrugged. The lunch bell rang, and the three teens stood.

"Oh come on!" Danny whined, leading the walk to the cafeteria. "Why not?" Why was he doing this again?...

"Maybe because of last time, when you almost assaulted Ember." Sam supplied.

"Sexual assault." Tucker chimed in.

Danny crossed his arms. "I don't remember any of that." he pouted. I hate doing this...

"That's another reason why."

_DP_

"Alex Blakley?"

"Possible."

"Quinn Hart?"

"Possible."

"Dominic Pines?"

"What? That twin? No."

"Damien Walter."

"Most likely."

"How about Dash?"

"Mm..put him in the 'most likely' section."

Paulina and Star sat at their lunch table, making a list of who Paulina's future husband could be hiding as.

Star was skeptical about the whole thing. The thought that there was a half dead kid running around the school, and that her best friend wanted to marry him...it was odd. But then again, being in Amity Park alone was enough to trump that oddness.

"Kwan maybe?"

"Mm...I don't know, no?"

"Fenton?"

"No."

"Foley?"

"God, No."

"Kingsley?"

"Uh, not..."

"How about-"

"OMG Star! Can you please start naming people who are actually a possibilitiy of being the man of my dreams?!" Paulina snapped.

Star grinded her teeth together hard. Maybe Paulina wasn't exactly her best friend... More like her boss. The last time she had met someone as bad as Paulina, she was visiting her distant cousin Chloe in Paris.

As a matter of fact...Star wondered why was she even putting up with this hag?

"Like, hello! Are you even listening me?"

Star's pencil snapped. So did she.

"No. No I wasn't." Star said coldly, then stood up from her seat and walked away.

Star racked her brain, trying to think back...why in the world did she put up with that girl in the first place?

Star stepped around a fallen lunch tray and the sludge that came with it, still deep in her thoughts. No, she seriously couldn't remember...

What the heck was wrong with that girl? Maybe it was just the fact that she was an overgrown, overpampered, glorified stuck up super bitc-

It was then that Star slammed right into someone, bouncing off said person and tipping backwards. Star yelped and put her hands out, ready for impact with the concrete of the cafeteria floor...

But that impact never came. An icy cold hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, and she could feel an arm snake around her waist, holding her up from the ground.

Star cracked open her eyes which we had not realized had closen. She was immediately greeted with a pair of the iciest blue eyes she had ever seen, bluer than the sky above, and colder than freshly fallen snow. Those eyes held so much emotion, they seemed to be swirling with sparkling seas of blue...Star didn't want to look away.

Loud silence met Star's ears, as the entire room had frozen, staring at her and her savior.

"Are you okay?" a soft voice huffed.

It was then that Star realized that every one had stopped, and that everyone was staring. And that she and Danny Fenton were trapped, nose to nose, caught in the forbidden dip of the tango.


	5. Is This Going To Be A Regular Thing?

Danny and Star avoided each other for the rest of the day. What happened during lunch had spread throughout the students, and many had taken to staring at the two.

Star stayed away from Paulina, but kept sending flustered glances at Danny. Danny knew that Star was staring at him, but then again, so was everyone else. He ignored them all, all the attention making him slightly irritated.

Danny didn't understand what Star's problem was. She had tripped, and he had caught her. She had assured him that she was fine, then ran off for some reason. He hadn't hurt her. But the other students were staring at him as if he had assaulted her. Which he hadn't.

Danny sighed. Women are so troublesome...

School let out regularly, but not regularly. Of course, classes ended at two and students rushed out the door. However, not everyone left.

People slipped though the thick crowd of rushing teens, snatching people out of the safety of their surrounding peers to be questioned about the knowledge of -or actual being of the _Human Phantom_. From the general knowledge of gossip that Sam possessed, that is what people had taken to calling him.

Funnily enough, they just about covered everyone except Danny, who just watched amusedly as some random blonde haired green eyed kid ran from a horde of Phangirls. It was kind of hilarious to watch when the victim wasn't him.

 **_DP_**

Danny sighed as he floated slowly above the trees, ankles crossed and arms behind his head. He was at the park again, in the middle of the night.

Is it sad that he didn't even have to sneak past his parents? They stayed down in the basement for the entire night, and he doubted they heard him leave.

I mean, who would hear somebody stomp down a flight of stairs and out the door, then slamming said door hard enough to make the glass window on it shatter into millions of pieces?

Danny laughed dryly at the thought. He did all of that to see if they would even bother to take a peek up the stairs... Which they didn't.

"Should I even bother going home next time?" Danny asked himself softly. He frowned, his glowing form lowering slightly so that the soft leaves brushed against his back.

"Well there's always a point in trying, right?" a voice asked.

Danny flashed out of his relaxed position, charging up a blue ectoblast, eyes an angry blue. "Show yourself, or I'll shatter you!" he demanded.

Lance waved his hands at up Danny in slight distress. "Whoa! Hold up, Frosty! Don't freeze a friend." he laughed. Danny blinked, before lowering his hand.

"Oh... Sorry Mr. Thunder." he said. Danny lowered his eyes, barely relaxing. He lowered himself to the ground where Lance stood, who noticed how Danny hesitated slightly before his white boots touched the grass.

Danny sighed softly, his downcast eyes full of pain. A short silence prevailed, before Lance huffed.

"Look, Danny..." he sighed. "I'm not gonna pretend that I understand what you're going through...because I don't. I can't. I can't do that to you." Lance said solemnly. Danny looked at him.

"I can't do that, not to you. You've done so much..." Lance continued. "You've done so much for the town. Keeping it safe and mostly ghost-free... Making sure no ghosts destroy our houses. Jeez, we wouldn't even have any money if it weren't for all of the tourists that come to see about you." he said. "I don't know how your life is at home, and I'm not gonna bother you about it. I don't know what you relationship was with that young ghost from the other day. I don't know what the problem is with the ghost you were fighting, either. Hell, I don't know _anything!_ " he yelled, surprising the young specter.

Lance noticed this and took a deep breath. Maybe he had riled himself up a bit too much...

Lance sighed softly. "What I'm trying to say... Is that you tell people what you want when you're ready. Don't let anybody pressure you into saying or doing anything you don't want to. Ever."

Danny's eyes were the epitome of sadness, yet there were no tears. "I-I know, its...its just..." he looked away. "Its _hard_ , Lance... I can't do much, but when I do, you all praise me for everything. I... I love it. I accept it every time, because I don't get it much." he smiled sadly. "But then I change back, and its all different from then on... No praise for anything... I thought that was fine, because reality is something everyone needs, y'know? To kill inflated egos, to keep themselves on the ground, stop them from going so high that they start hallucinating that the can do anything and everything whenever they want." he said bitterly.

"Even so, I realized after a while... My life was different. Reality is not _that cruel_ to everybody...what was so different about _my_ reality?"

Lance leaned against a tree with a sullen look on his face, and Danny subconsciously began floating again.

"Reality, huh?" Lance muttered.

Danny floated higher up, and sat down in the air. "Hey, Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I figured out something."

"Really?"

"Yeah. What was keeping me from telling you everything, who I am, all of my problems, my thoughts... You're one of the only people who has actually asked me how I was feeling, in a long, long time. What stopped me from telling you everything then and there the other night, even when I was on a three hour sugar high..." he smiled. Lance scoffed.

"More like 6 hours..."

Danny glared at him mockingly. "That's not the point. The point is... I know my reason. I wanted to keep all my memories to myself. Nobody needs to know my personal business..."

Lance made a sound of agreement, eyes deep in thought.

"Hey, Lance?"

Lance shook himself out of his stupor. "Oh, yeah kid?"

Danny dropped to the ground a couple feet away. He tilted his head to the side, white hair falling across his eyes.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked, confused.

This made Lance scoff. "Listen kid. What makes you think there's a reason? The only remaining fact is that there's no one else."

Danny shook his head with a soft smile. "Tch. That's pretty sad..."

"I guess so." Lance huffed. "Now I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Is this going to be a regular thing?"

Danny let out a small laugh. "Yeah... I guess so. I can't think of anything better to do."

"Huh... You're right. Me neither."


	6. Seriously?

**(A/N: NEW CHARACTER! DON'T PUT YOUR GUESSES IN THE COMMENTS, JUST STATE IF YOU KNOW OR NOT)**

* * *

Danny banged his head against his desk, the dull thud blocking out all of his other thoughts... Almost.

"You have got to be freaking kidding me..." he groaned.

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose. "Tell me this isn't happening..."

Tucker sulked."Nope. This is definitely happening," He stated blandly, before pouting. "Dang it! I can't believe someone had this idea before me!"

Danny squinted at the almost blinding neon, green, and white colors that filled the computer screen. "What does that matter, Tuck? You already know who I am." He grumbled, scrolling down the list of names.

Sam sighed, looking at the screen. "But a list of names, and a probability web? Is it really necessary?"

"It isn't... But the owner of this site..." Danny pouted, twisting in his chair slightly.

"Dubbed the ' _Official Phinding Phantom Forum_ ', owned by a... W2." Tucker read from his PDA. "He's buried pretty deep too, completely anonymous... Yet the site says its official, as if you approved it." Tucker scrunched up his face. He hated when he couldn't get past a private server for even a name...

"W2.." Danny mused, not even looking away from the screen. He shook his head. "Yep, its definitely him."

Sam and Tucker looked at Danny curiously. "Him?" Sam asked. Tucker looked skeptical. "You know this guy?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah." Danny nodded, now about halfway down the list. That's why his name wasn't on here... He continued to scroll nonchalantly, until he felt someone's eyes on him. He turned around, seeing Tucker and Sam eyeing him incredulously.

"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sam rolled her eyes, and Tucker shook his head. " _So_? Who is he?" Tucker pressed.

Danny scoffed. "Don't worry, I know him and I trust him not to reveal anything."

"Wait a second," Sam cut in, "This guy _actually_ knows?"

"Yep." Danny deadpanned.

"But you trust-"

"Yep."

"And you didn't tell us?"

"Nope. Not gonna."

Sam looked affronted. "And why not?"

But Danny had already pulled out his phone and started dialing. After a couple seconds of monotone ringing, there was an audible _click._

 _"Yeah?"_ A male voice answered.

"'W2', huh?" Danny sighed, drumming his fingers on the desk. There was a faint sound of clanging metal coming through the receiver, and a curse.

 _"Dammit..."_ The voice muttered. _"Well that didn't take long for you to figure out..."_

"You think?" Danny scoffed, used to his friend's abuse of profanity. Danny heard him mutter a incomprehensible excuse, and another clatter of metal as he dropped something.

 _"Gah! Fucking Exodus, just stay together!"_ He hissed.

Danny raised an eyebrow at that. "Uh.. You're putting an Exodus Alarm on your-"

 _"Yep. Gives you the idea to not try and steal it, right?"_

"You know you're gonna have to _pay_ my family to use the Ecto-Exodus in any of your projects.." He deadpanned.

 _"I mean... I... made it special just for you?"_

"That sounds about right. You shouldn't have."

 _"Fuck you. And, God dammit, Care to explain why someone's trying to get past my firewalls through your ancient ass phone?"_ Danny ignored the jab at his phone- which was one of the latest, by the way. _"Cause if its your nerd friend..."_ Danny rolled his eyes, as he could practically hear the sneer on his lips.

"Yeah, its my _'nerd friend_ '." Danny replied, and ignored Tucker's indignant protests.

 _"Yeah, well tell him to fuck off before I make his precious_ _ **Marilyn**_ _spazz."_

Danny pulled the phone away from his ear slightly as he turned to look at his two friends, who were both staring at Tucker's PDA screen, which was flashing from blue to green. "Tucker," Said boy looked up with an irritated frown, "He says stop, or he'll kill your PDA." Danny informed him calmly.

Tucker looked scandalized, before he scowled and carefully backed his way out of W2's network using his earlier footprints. Danny shook his head and put the phone back up to his ear.

"Anyway, didn't you need my permission to state that your site is 'Phantom Approved'?"

 _"Do I have to take it down?"_

"No, but-"

 _"Great! Thanks for your approval, Frosty. I gotta go."_

"What?! That's not what I-"

 _"Meet me at the shop tomorrow, Bye_."

 _ **CLICK**_

Danny stared at his phone for a second longer before placing it on his desk with an annoyed grumble of "So unfair..." He stood from his chair abrubtly, and headed across the room for the door.

"I'll just go get us something to eat. You guys can stay here if you want.." He hesitated.

Sam shook her head. "Not hungry."

Tucker shrugged. "Sure."

Danny grabbed the doorknob and turned, but just as he was about to exit, he heard the excited voice of his mother call up the stairs.

"Kids! Come and look at our newest invention!"

Danny closed the door. "On second thought, I think I'll use the window."

 **_DP_**

Danny entered the Nasty Burger, and sighed heavily at the sight that awaited him. Lots of people crowded the restaurant, milling around and dying of extreme hunger.

"Long lines..." He mumbled. "Every hero's ultimate, eternal enemy.."

Instead of getting in line, Danny looked around for an empty booth to wait in. Finding one near the doorway, he trudged silently over to the booth with lidded eyes and sat down.

Unfortunately, the booth yelped, "Hey!"

Danny jumped up in surprise and stared down in shock at whoever he just sat on.

Star sat up from her laying position with her phone in her hand and an irritated look on her face, and retracted her legs from their stretched position on the seat. "Watch what you're doing, idiot!" She snapped.

"Star! I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean, I didn't know you were-" Danny stumbled over his words.

"God!" Star exclaimed. "C'mon, seriously?! Can't catch up on Pax Prime anywhere in this cursed town!" She seethed, gripping her phone in frustrated fangirl rage.

Danny slid his hand down his face. "Well its _totally_ a logical thing to do, lie down in a booth in a public restaurant where no one can see you." He snapped sarcastically.

He turned around to survey the drastically overfilled room before deciding that he could wait a few hours, if it meant getting away from the nightmare- dubbed 'Sattelite'.

"I'm outta here." He grumbled mostly to himself.

Star huffed impatiently. "Aren't you going to apologize, loser? Hey!" He had already made it to the door.

"Yeah, whatever."


	7. A Ghost?

Danny pushed aside the graffitied slate of metal that hid the doorway of his friend's secret, shameful nerd-base. Danny didn't even flinch as it made a loud, undignified screech.

Danny was amused by the way that he went out of his way to make sure people didn't know he was a technical genius, if only to not be associated with geeks like Tucker. Danny pushed open the black door that was strangely placed in the wall of an alley on the opposite side of town as the school.

"Hello, hello." He called out loudly as the panel slammed back down with a clang, eyes adjusting to the dimmer lighting inside the large building. The sound of machinery met his ears, filling the room with sawing, screeching, and random beeping noises.

Danny walked forward slowly, fingers barely brushing the metal tips and corners of forgotten projects. Gears spun at his touch and green and blue lights glowed at his ghostly presence. One half finished project flickered to life with two miniature dart guns assembling themselves before his eyes.

Danny raised his eyebrows as he plucked the guns up with pale fingers, seeing the darts glowing with a blue energy. He smirked. Even though he didn't want to be a techno geek like Tuck, this guy really put Tucker's mechanical skills in their place.

A loud scraping sound made Danny turn to look in the direction which he came, seeing a pale black haired boy walk in through the recently pulled back panel. Danny watched curiously as he seemed to look about the room as the panel slammed back down, his long hair covering his eyes.

He moved forward silently, and Danny barely heard the end of his barely whispered, "Hello..." before the boy moved forward walking past the machines, his hand moving to touch them, yet still hovering a good few inches above each object.

Danny tilted his head. "Hey. You okay?"

A small smile graced his face before he came and stood beside Danny. He looked down at the machine that Danny had pulled the guns from. He moved his hand to touch the object as Danny asked him, "Who are you? Are you one of his friends?"

The boy didn't answer, and before his hand could touch the machine, he turned sharply and looked at the door. Danny looked as well, but the door remained closed and silent.

Danny looked back to the boy in confusion, but the boy was no longer there.

Danny tensed, blue ectoblasts curling around his hands at the sudden disappearance. His eyes roved the shop, seeing hanging robot arms and sharp metal pointy things, but not a black haired boy with no visible eyes.

Danny turns around and fires as the door is wrenched open with an impossibly loud screech, and a very indignant yell is heard.

"Dude, what the FUCK?!"

Danny relaxed slightly as the one and only Wes Weston glared at him, his ginger hair covered in blue and green slushie.

"I go get you a drink and THIS is how you thank me!? What the fuck are you doing?!"

"There was a-"

"Never again will I try to be nice to half ghosts! You don't understand how hard it is to buy two slushies and only drink one, god dammit! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND-"

"WES!"

"WHAT?"

"There was a ghost in here!"

"Yeah, YOU! You SHOT my fuckin' slush!"

"Seriously! Shut up, Wes!" Danny hissed.

Wes snapped his mouth shut balefully, bit then frowned as he heard it too.

A barely audible voice flit throughout the room, "A ghost in here..." it muttered with a sad tone.

Wes stared, and opened his mouth to snark out another comment but-

"Shut up!" the voice growled, sounding irritated.

Wes huffed. Can't even speak in his own fucking lab?! He glared at the side of Danny's head, trying to send a message: How the actual fuck did you let a ghost in my lab?

Danny's green eyes stared suspiciously around the room as the emerald green eyes bored an angry hole into his head.


End file.
